Why in the world won't anybody hire Brian K. Shaw, and what are the Nuggets waiting for?

So, what's wrong with Shaw?

"Nothing," insists Donnie Walsh, Shaw's current boss and a former Nuggets coach. "Brian is a great choice for Denver, and it's an ideal match for him and the team. He's capable of being one of the best head coaches in the league.

"I've said to Brian he would love Denver and the Nuggets, and he'd fit in perfectly. He's a family man. He'll like the lifestyle there. It's a good basketball city. It'll be tough to follow George (Karl), but Brian can handle it, and people in Denver will love him."

The 47-year-old Shaw is associate head coach of the Indiana Pacers, and Walsh is club president.

"Brian is brilliant working individually with players," Walsh told me over the weekend. "They identify with him because he speaks their basketball language, and cuts through the X's and O's and techno-(stuff). And they respect him because he's been a winner on every level as a player and a coach.

"The Nuggets have a bunch of outstanding young players for Brian to coach. I know. I reluctantly had to give them several."

Walsh, as New York Knicks president in February 2011, was instrumental in the Carmelo Anthony trade.

"I still don't understand why George (Karl) was fired, but Josh (Kroenke) contacted me immediately afterward, and I gave him permission to speak to Brian. He deserves to be a head coach in this league. It should have happened before now."

Kroenke interviewed Shaw last Tuesday, but no decision has been made by either man. If the Nuggets don't move soon, they'll be late.

Shaw owns five NBA championship rings as a player and an assistant coach. In college he was conference player of the year, led UC Santa Barbara to its first NCAA Tournament berth and hit the game-winning 3-pointer for the U.S. in the gold-medal game of the FIBA World Championship.

The first-round draft pick of the Boston Celtics in 1988, Shaw played for seven teams in 14 seasons, and in four NBA Finals with the Orlando Magic and Los Angeles Lakers. He was a point guard on three straight title teams in L.A.

Shaw has served as an assistant coach for the past eight years with the Lakers and the Pacers. The six Lakers teams won 11 playoff series and two championships, and the Pacers have won three playoff series since he joined them.

In a 2012 survey, Shaw was named the league's No. 1 assistant by seven GMs. No other assistant got more than three votes. When Phil Jackson retired from the Lakers in 2011, Kobe Bryant said he and all his teammates supported Shaw as successor. Shaw also has been endorsed by Jackson, Shaquille O'Neal and Pacers coach Frank Vogel.

Shaw has a solid reputation and a heart-wrenching story. In a tragic traffic accident in the summer of 1993, Shaw's parents and sisters died. Only his 1-year-old niece survived. The devastated Shaw raised Brianna (who was named for Brian and now is in college), married in 1998 and has two other children.

Shaw was supposed to be Jackson's successor, but the Lakers rejected him twice — hiring Mike Brown in 2011, and a year later, replacing Brown with Mike D'Antoni. At least eight other teams have shown serious interest in Shaw. But nobody has made an offer.

What's up with being so down on Shaw?

• Doesn't have head coaching experience, but five other assistants have been named head coaches lately.

• Interviews poorly? "I guess you'd have to be in the room, but I've been around him long enough to know that's wrong. He's intelligent," Walsh says.

• Asking for too much money? The other candidates would demand higher, longer-term contracts.

• The negative Jackson connection? "That should be a major positive," Walsh, who has a law degree, argues. "Jackson won 11 rings. He coached and mentored Brian — and made him his lead assistant. And Brian has been with a number of other exceptional coaches."

• The dreaded triangle offense? "It wasn't the offense that won for the Lakers. That was Phil and the players. Brian has played and coached in every kind of system. He played with Shaq and (Larry) Bird and Kobe. He gets it."

• Some hidden personality trait? "Brian's been a leader his whole life. He's firm, but fair with his players. He worked every day with Lance Stephenson this season, and the kid became one of our top players in the playoffs. I can't think of a reason the Nuggets shouldn't want to hire him. He can coach."

Walsh knows coaches. He's a member of that Tar Heels-Nuggets coterie that includes Larry Brown, Doug Moe and Karl, and Walsh was the Nuggets' head coach from 1979-80.

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